Department of Industrial Accidents

Where a judge’s conclusion that the employee has an earning capacity is devoid of any analysis or explanation as to what, precisely, that earning capacity might be, the case must be recommitted for further findings. “The judge credited the opinion ...

Where a self-insured employer appeals from a decision ordering it to pay an employee permanent and total incapacity benefits, bodily disfigurement benefits and reasonable and necessary medical expenses, the decision must be vacated and the case recommitted for further findings, ...

Where an employee injured his back at work, then suffered post-surgery disc protrusions, the judge performed a proper causation analysis when he found the insurer liable for the employee’s permanent and total disability. “The self-insurer first contends the decision should ...

Where an employee appeals from a decision awarding him a closed period of §34 benefits and medical benefits for his work-related right shoulder and low back injuries, there was no error, as the judge properly adopted two medical opinions and ...

Where a judge determined that an employee’s back injury was not proximately caused by the alleged serious and willful misconduct of unreasonably returning to heavy work after four prior back injuries, he applied the correct causation standard. “On appeal, the ...

Where a judge applied the wrong causation standard when she denied an employee’s claim for a psychiatric injury stemming from a work-related physical injury, her finding that the employee’s “Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder” was not compensable must be ...

Where an insurer argues that a judge (1) mischaracterized a physician’s opinion regarding disability and (2) did not adequately address residual capacity, any error was harmless because the judge clearly adopted medical evidence supporting her ultimate conclusions, and the finding ...

Where the insurer appeals from an award of partial incapacity benefits and a finding that the employee could only work 32 hours per week, the decision must be affirmed because (1) the judge’s credibility findings were not arbitrary and capricious ...

Where a hearing judge, finding that an employee brought her second claim for payment of medical benefits without reasonable grounds, awarded costs to both the insurer and the Department of Industrial Accidents, the decision must be affirmed in part, but ...

Where a judge concluded that an employee was no longer disabled and therefore no longer entitled to partial incapacity benefits arbitrarily, that decision must be reversed because the judge was arbitrary in assuming that the examining physician would have changed ...